


What Have I Become?

by A_reluctant_dreamer



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mob, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Dark, Dark Steve Rogers, Dubious Morality, Hades & Persephone trope, Kidnapped Peter Parker, Kidnapping, M/M, Mob Boss!Tony, Moral Dilemmas, Police officer!Peter, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, dark bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:56:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22258327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_reluctant_dreamer/pseuds/A_reluctant_dreamer
Summary: Men are beasts. Tony knew it and so did the likes of May and Peter Parker. The only difference was what they decided to do with this truth. Tony respected their trust in civilisation. In treating criminals better than they treated their victims. Tony had no such trust in mankind. He believed in justice that was as pitiless as the crime that warranted it. And at places buried so deep in darkness that most would even doubt that they existed, justice could only be unlawful.Not that Tony cared about justice, but his guest did, and since Tony’s own hands couldn’t reach into the abyss, he needed Peter Parker.
Relationships: Peter Parker/Tony Stark
Kudos: 73





	What Have I Become?

**Author's Note:**

> I've started to write this for the Hades & Persephone prompt for my 2019 Starker Bingo but I've only finished it in 2020. This is a non-powered modern setting loosely based on the myth, with criminal underworld, kidnapping, setting free but returning eternally and the rest. Hope you enjoy!

“I won’t drug you,” Tony remarked, when the young man stopped struggling against his restraints and glared at him. “I won’t hold you at gunpoint either,” he added and held the other’s gaze. “I’ll just wait until you are ready to talk.”

Peter didn’t reply. When he looked away though, he didn’t continue his struggle. Tony waited. 

Peter Parker was a cop. A detective in all but name yet. He was strong. He was smart. In any other scenario, Peter would have had a decent chance to escape. Tony knew this and he let Peter go through all the ideas his training and his experience provided him with. He was patient. He wanted Peter to realise that this time was different. That he, Tony Stark, was different.

He’d been watching Peter Parker for a long time. Nephew of legendary detective May Parker, a rising star in the NYPD himself, who at the age of twenty-five has done a good enough job at Narcotics to draw Tony’s attention to himself. With his determination and resumé, Peter wouldn’t have to wait long before being promoted to the rank of detective. And then, he could follow in his aunt’s footsteps and join in the never ending fight against organised-crime.

Tony admired him. He admired every honest cop. He’d heard the tales of one too many corrupt ones and he felt only disdain for them. Too weak to follow the law, too weak to own up to breaking it, they clang to their rationalisations to sleep better.

Men are beasts. Tony knew it and so did the likes of May and Peter Parker. The only difference was what they decided to do with this truth. Tony respected their trust in civilisation. In treating criminals better than they treated their victims. Tony had no such trust in mankind. He believed in justice that was as pitiless as the crime that warranted it. And at places buried so deep in darkness that most would even doubt that they existed, justice could only be unlawful. 

Not that Tony cared about justice, but his _guest_ did, and since Tony’s own hands couldn’t reach into the abyss, he needed Peter Parker.

He shook his head and looked up. They'd been there for almost half a day. Outside, where they couldn't see it, the sun was up and shining on unsuspecting citizens. Inside, time had changed. It was measured by the changes in the silence hanging between them. At first, Peter struggled. Then, he regained his calm and went over his possibilities again. By the time he looked up eventually, he must have seen that there was no way out. But Peter wasn't ready to admit that he was seeking help yet. It was a pity because Tony was so ready to give it to him If only Peter had asked… But they would get there, no doubt.

The moment came almost twenty-four hours after his men brought Peter to him. Tony could hear the shift in Peter's breathing. It still took him a few minutes to start but he spoke eventually.

"What do you want from me?"

Tony smiled.

“I have an offer for you.”

Peter huffed and looked away.

“What is it?” Tony prompted, his smile still lingering at the corner of his mouth.

“Kidnap seems more like taking than offering,” Peter replied, turning his piercing gaze at him.

“I knew it would take time for you to listen,” Tony explained simply.

Peter turned away but he knew better than to let his spiteful words out. 

"I thought you were ready to talk."

His words carried no threat, he merely observed and then it was Peter's move again. They would talk eventually. The sooner the better, but Tony was patient. 

Peter rose his head and met Tony's gaze. Tony smiled again. He didn't need words to understand that Peter was listening. 

"I’m offering you a chance to make the city safer.”

Peter scoffed. “Then shouldn’t it be you tied to this chair?”

“If you think that I am the worst in this city, then you don’t know it as well as you think.”

“Be that as it may, I’m not for sale.”

“And I’m not offering you money.”

Tony could see confusion, defiance and reluctant curiosity in Peter’s expression.

“I’m offering you the Winter Soldier. Have you heard of him?”

“He’s a legend,” Peter said. “An alias probably used by several members of the Russian mob.”

Tony shook his head. “He is one person. And he is not Russian. He was trained in Russia but he and his boss are very much American.”

Peter didn’t say a word but Tony knew that he had his attention.

“ _Underworld_. This word has always seemed a little pompous to me. Old-fashioned, euphemistic. Mob. Now that’s what we are. A horde of beasts. But it’s true: we inhabit our own world. Places the rest of the world can’t see and there are corners so dark and well-hidden that no beam of light can penetrate it.”

Peter was still watching Tony in silence. His face didn’t give away anything.

“You might think that I’ve gone crazy, talking about semantics, but it’s important that you understand, Officer Parker, that there is a layer of this world that you can _never_ bring to light.”

Peter’s face was unreadable, but Tony could still see the struggle inside him. Peter knew that he was right. Deep down, he’d always known, and the time had come for him to accept it.

“I’m offering you all those who you could never reach from up there.”

“You want me to work for you,” Peter said at long last.

Tony shook his head. 

“You would never do that. But you would do your job and if you had information about the deadliest gun for hire, you would want to do what was needed to be done.”

***

The raindrops were stinging Peter’s face. It prompted him to pull his hood further down and quicken his pace. He glanced at the map Tony gave him to check his next turn, but it was unnecessary. He was familiar with these streets. He had used to patrol them. He used to be NYPD’s eyes in these hidden corners off the grid where there wasn’t any surveillance. Now, it was him hiding in the shadows. 

He was doing it so that he could cover for Tony fucking Stark. The taste of the man's kiss was still on his lips, and his name lit a fire in him every time he spoke it inside. Flames that had less to do with the determination of an investigation and more with the passion that led him to his ruin. Peter heaved a trembling sigh and didn't fight his tears. The relief the hot streaks on his cheeks brought against the prickling cold dissolved as soon as it registered. It was not unlike the kiss he shared with Tony Stark. It warmed him inside but it only made their world colder.

Peter’s shoulders shook with his sobs. He couldn’t see where he stepped, but he didn't need to. He knew where he was going. He was going back to Tony Stark, even if right then he was walking away from him. Tony Stark had released him after two weeks, but it didn’t feel like freedom at all. Peter had sacrificed that along with the life he'd known the moment he kissed Tony and accepted his offer. Every step he was taking towards his precinct, every second he spent practising the cover story Tony had given him, every time his heart skipped a beat at the thought of Tony, his mask was solidifying. It felt strange and heavy, but Peter was calm underneath it all. He was going to return to Tony. How could he not, when he became the only person who could see him for who he was?

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from the Johnny Cash song that always makes me cry, Hurt. And the backstory that I came up with for this fic I was vaguely inspired by my all-time favourite TV show, Person of Interest. It has many interesting questions about crime and morality (and it features the above mentioned Johnny Cash song).
> 
> Let me know what you think! Comments are cherished and answered. :)


End file.
